An Unknown Reunion
by Moonlit Sea
Summary: RID The Autobots encounter a new enemy from old times. Thought to be dead they try to find out if that entity is who they think it is and if so do they fight it or let it join them, that is the question.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: An Unknown Reunion  
****By: Moonlit Sea**

**Summary: **The Autobots encounter a new enemy from old times. Thought to be dead they try to find out if that entity is who they think it is and if so do they fight it or let it join them, that is the question.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Transformers Robots In Disguise or any of the characters, however, any _unknown_ characters are of my own creation.

**A/N:** thanks to my wonderful MSN friend Tim for all his help in the story. Please forgive me if any of the character are a little OOC I've only seen the first eight episodes of RID, so this story is also loosely based around them.

**Chapter One  
**Koji looked out the classroom window, a small sigh escaping his lips. He was bored, he wished he was at Cybertron base or out with Optimus or the Autobot brothers anywhere but sitting in a classroom listening to the teacher drone on and on. He wondered how his father was doing. How were the Predacons treating him, he hoped they'd find him soon.  
Koji was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a car engine pulling up to the school entrance. He looked out across the grounds and saw a light blue Honda Civic with a bold light lime green stripe and a thin white stripe going across the side.  
_Weird paint job_ he thought, as he continued to look at the Honda he began to realise that he saw no-one getting in or out of the vehicle. He tried not to show his shock at his realisation but apparently failed as he heard, "Koji, are you okay?" he turned to look and was partly surprised to see everyone in the class looking at him as well.

"I'm fine, Miss."

The teacher looked at him for a few more moments before returning to what she was talking about, gradually everyone went back to what they were doing -which was anything but listening to the teacher-. Koji let out a small sigh of relief before returning to look back out at the car, it was still there. _Could it be that it's an Autobot too?_ He began to feel as if the car was watching him. _Maybe Optimus sent it to keep an eye on me in case anything happens._ He thought and smiled slightly. _I'll have to remember to thank him later.  
_The bell rang for lunch and Koji took one last look at the car before heading out. The car also began to drive off but it did not go far, it parked itself in the car park, hidden from view… and waited.

At three thirty Koji wondered where his 'mysterious' protector had gone. He wanted to thank them before heading home, seeing them nowhere in sight he simply shrugged _Maybe they were needed somewhere else. Maybe there's a Predacon attack._ He began to walk home and was surprised when Side Burn pulled up beside him.

"Wanna lift, Koji?"

"What, no red sports cars to chase, Side Burn?" he joked.

"Hey I don't go after _every_ red sports car you know." Side Burn replied slightly defensive.

Koji couldn't hep but laugh at that, he was willing to bet that if a red sports car came along Side Burn would be after it faster than you could say 'Cybertron'.

Unknown to both Autobot and human, someone was watching them… intently. Watching every move they made and listening to every word they said. They watched as Side Burn's passenger door opened, Koji got in and drove away.

_Interesting_ they thought _VERY interesting,_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: forgot to add that this is my first TransFormers story. Anyway, hope you like this one the chap, happy reading

**Chapter Two**

The next day was a Saturday and Koji decided to go down to the Autobot base and see if they had any more news on his father's whereabouts. Optimus was standing talking to the holographic TAI.  
"Hey Optimus." He said cheerily.

"Good morning, Koji." Optimus replied turning to him.

"Hi Koji." TAI said.

"Hey TAI. Thank you for the guard yesterday Optimus."

"Guard? What are you talking about, Koji?" Optimus asked slightly confused.

"Didn't you send someone over to school to keep an eye on me." He said, now wondering if was mistaken.

"No." Optimus looked over at TAI. "TAI?"

"I sent no-one over to Koji's school, Optimus." She looked down at Koji "What did it look like?"

"Well… they were light blue in colour with a light lime green and white stripes going across the sides." He recalled then added, "I remember thinking that it was a weird paint job."

"We don't have anyone of that colouring." TAI said.

"What! You mean they _weren't_ an Autobot. How can that be? I didn't see anybody get in _or_ out of the car."

"Are you sure, Koji?" Optimus asked.

"Yes! I spent nearly the entire lesson looking at it! And…" he paused for a moment "And it felt like it was watching me too."

Optimus and TAI looked at each other, whoever this 'person' was, they certainly weren't an Autobot.

"What time was this?" TAI asked.

"Before lunchtime, why?" confused as to why that was important.

TAI floated over to the screens, her hands behind her back, things were silent for a while before she said, "That was when everyone was the furthest away and it would have at least taken ten minutes to get to you."

Optimus thought for a moment. "Koji,"

"Hm?"

"I want you to keep an eye out for this car, and contact either me or TAI if they show up again."

"Sure thing, Optimus."

1

1

After Koji had left Optimus stared at the screens, things had been quiet on the Predacon front recently, too quiet. Could it be that this was Megatron's doing? If so, what was his plan? _What are you up to Megatron?_ He wondered.

During the rest of the week both Side Burn and X-Brawn reported that, that same car Koji had seen had tried to follow them, although in Side Burn's case he said it started to chased him just as he was 'getting to know' a cherry red sports car to which Prowl chuckled and said that was getting a taste of his own medicine. The only ones who _hadn't _seen it were Optimus Prime and Prowl.

Prowl had suggested that Megatron might have somehow 'rigged' a car to try and infiltrate them. Side Burn however said that was rubbish and an argument started between to the two brothers.

There was one thing that Side Burn and X-Brawn _had_ noticed, it was the licence plate. Unlike all the other cars in Metro City that had numbers and letters on their plates, this car simply had the words 'Freespirit' written on theirs.  
When TAI ran a licence plate check she found that a Topaz Maples owned the car.

* * *

It was now two weeks since Koji had seen the 'mysterious' car and he began to wonder if he had imagined it, in fact no one had seen the car in days. As he walked into class that morning he was surprise to see someone standing by his desk staring out the window. "She's been like that ever since she walked in." a voice said. He looked over and saw his friend. "Who is she?" Koji asked. As far as he was aware there were no dark blonde haired girls in his class.

"Dunno. New girl I suspect, and not very friendly either. Everyone who's gone over to her has gotten the cold shoulder." His friend said.

Koji started over towards his desk, as he neared it he was about to greet her when she suddenly turned round. The first thing Koji noticed were her eyes, they were green. Not so green that they looked unnatural and weird but green enough to be uncommon and unique.

"Hi." He greeted "I'm Koji Onishi."

A brief look of surprise ran across the girl's face before disappearing. She said nothing but turned and walked off, her dark blonde hair hitting him as she did so. Koji looked at her retreating form in slight shock.

"I told you." His friend said walking up to him. Koji gave a nod.

1

1

"We have a new student with us today." The teacher began "Topaz Maples."

Koji's jaw nearly dropped to the floor when he heard the name. _That's the person TAI said the car belonged to._

"Topaz, would you please show yourself to the class."

Koji heard the sound of a chair sliding back, slowly he turned to look. There, standing at a desk near the door was Topaz Maples, the one who was suppose to own the 'mysterious' car. _But how can this be? How can a girl my age own a car?_ He wondered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

At lunchtime Koji contacted TAI and let her know what he'd found out.

"Are you sure, Koji?"

"Positive! The person you say owns that car is a girl in my class."

Unknown to Koji a certain dark blonde was listening to his conversation, she smirked as she heard the last thing he said. _Phase two complete, phase three in progress. But they're quicker than I thought, I might have to skip phase three and…_she stopped as she heard.  
"Maybe I should talk to her and see if anyone else in her family has the same name."  
Her smirk grew _then again, phase three just might add a little '_fun'_ to things._ She chuckled inwardly.  
As she began to walked back she took a casual look out the window, what she saw made her stop in her tracks. Outside, in the car park were a blue sports car with light blue flames and a greyish sliver 4x4, she cursed inwardly.

"Topaz? Are you okay?" she looked over, Koji had obviously finished his conversation with the Autobot computer and had found her staring out the window. She looked back out at the car park before saying "Fine." And walked off.

_What's her problem._ He thought before taking a look out the window himself.

* * *

"Why are we here again?"

"In case that car shows up."

"But it hasn't been seen in two weeks! Why don't the Spychangers sit here and do this, and how come Prowl managed to escape this?" Side Burn complained.

"The Spychangers are out on assignment and Prowl would rise to much suspicion. Now quit your yapping, we're suppose to look like every other vehicle here." X-Brawn said.

"Hmph."

"Now there's a rarity. Cars that talk." A voice suddenly said.

Both cars looked around but there was no one there just a car park with… cars.

"Who said that?" Side Burn asked before he could stop himself.

The voice chuckled, "Now that would be telling. Though I'll say this as far as undercover goes, you two are the worst." They gave another small chuckle "Besides, you'll never find me."

"Find yo… you can talk!" Side Burn said surprised as he realised who was talking to them.

They gave a mock gasp "So can you! It's amazing!" they mimicked "Now let's get one thing straight, I'm not here to steal or kidnap your little human friend and I work for no one."

"That's two things." Side Burn said cheekily.

"If you're not working for the Predacons, Freespirit, then why are you here?" X-Brawn asked joining the conversation.

"That's non…" they stopped mid sentence after registering what was just said.

Side Burn and X-Brawn waited for them to continue but all they got was silence.

"Way to go, X-Brawn. You scare them off."

"I don't think so, little brother. I think they're just surprised that I found out their name."

"How'd you find that out?"

"Hey guys, whatcha talking about?" a familiar voice asked.

* * *

On the outskirts of the city in a derelict building three Predacons waited.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Dark Scream." The red frog asked.

"Yeah, we've been waiting for almost an hour." The black skunk said.

Dark Scream was about to answer when a voice said, "My you Predacons are impatient aren't you."

"Who said that? Show yourself!" Dark Scream said out into the building.

The voice chuckled, "You first."

The three Predacons looked at each other with blank looks on their faces then back out into the building.  
"Us first?" Slapper repeated confused.

"Fair enough. If you don't want to continue then I've got better things to do with my time."

"Wait." Gas Skunk called out.

The three looked at each other once more before it hit them, and they transformed.

"Dark Scream, Terrorise!"  
"Gas Skunk, Terrorise!"  
"Slapper, Terrorise!"

"Now where are you." Gas Skunk said.

"Right behind you."

They looked back and saw a tall figure behind them, they jumped putting some distance between them and the figure. The figure almost looked like an Autobot, _almost _except they had wings, they were light blue in colour and had a bold light lime green stripe and a thin white stripe above it. They had a light blue helmet and grey face with light yellow optics, their arms were light blue up to their 'elbow joint' and the rest -including their hands- were light lime green. They had guns attached to both of their arms, which were the same colour as the top half of their arms. Their chest and hips were a light blue and they appeared to have pale blue glass in a V shape going down the chest. Their legs were also a light blue and they had light lime green feet.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Slapper said.

"Yeah, you look like an Autobot." Dark Scream said.

"You don't." they replied ignoring the blue flying squirrel's comment. "How do I know you can be trusted."

"They've got a point there." Gas Skunk said.

"Now, do you want to know what I have to offer or shall I take my information elsewhere."

"And what information might that be?" Slapper asked intrigued.

The figure narrowed their light yellow optics and their hands became fists that shook with anger.

"How to destroy the Autobots."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Please review so I know how I'm doing, thanks. Also thanks to all who've reviewed.

**Chapter Four**

Prowl sat in vehicle mode looking out at the ocean thinking about what went down at base.

_**-Time rewind one hour-  
**_"I don't know of any Freespirit, but it is similar to another name in my records." TAI said when X-Brawn had told them of the car's name.

"What name is that?" Koji asked.

"Sky Spirit."

That was the moment Prowl chose to walk in.  
"Sky Spirit?" he said almost in a whisper seeing the picture of the Autobot on screen.

"So does he have a twin or any other family?" Side Burn asked.

"Not 'he', _she._" Optimus corrected. "She has none that we are aware of."

"What a minute. That's a female?!" Koji asked looking at the picture wondering if he heard right.

Optimus nodded.

"We had a femme in our ranks and no one told me." Side Burn said slightly hurt.

"She's dead." Prowl suddenly said flatly.

X-Brawn looked over at his brother with worry and sadness in his yellow optics. He knew that Prowl and Sky Spirit had once been together, he also knew that Prowl still blamed himself for her death.

"That's too bad. I was hoping to get to know her." Side Burn said slightly suggestive.

"Side Burn." Prowl said his voice straining to remain calm.

Side Burn looked over at his brother and was surprise to see his hands were now fists, which were shaking down by his sides.  
"You okay, Bro?" _Prowl's normally so calm. It usually takes a lot to rile him up. Yet why does he look like he's ready to kill someone?_

X-Brawn felt like hitting his youngest brother across the head and throwing him in the nearest river, why on earth did he have to go and say something like that.

It took a few more moments before Prowl finally said "Forget it." And walked out, but as he did so he heard Side Burn ask "What was all that about?"  
_**-Time forward to present-**_

Prowl sighed, it had been a while since he'd last thought of her. Ever since her death he'd tried to keep busy, concentrate more on Autobot matters. He didn't want to admit it, but he _did_ miss her. Why couldn't he have gotten to her sooner, why did he have to break procedure back then and go off and leave her? She should've been safe with the others, she should've!  
She was a great fighter, but they were taken by surprise and didn't have time to react. He shouldn't have left her, he should have stayed with them like he was told to. It was his fault she was no longer with them, no longer with _him_.

"Prowl, you okay?" a voice asked startling the said Autobot out of his thoughts.

"Hm?"

"I asked if you were okay, little brother." X-Brawn said his voice filled with concern.

Prowl looked over at his older brother.  
"You haven't called me that since Side Burn came along."

X-Brawn chuckled, "You may not be the youngest anymore, but to me you'll always be my little brother."

"I'm beginning to wonder if that's a good thing." He replied jokingly.

"So you gonna tell me what's on your mind?"

"I think you already know." Looking back out at the ocean.

"Sky Spirit?" the 4x4 said half knowingly. Prowl didn't answer which told X-Brawn he was right. "You know it wasn't your fault…"

"Yes it was." The police car interrupted "I should never of left them."

* * *

Topaz sat on her sofa staring down at an old photo. A tear slid down her face as memories filled her mind. Why, why did he have to go, why? A few more tears made there way down her face.

Just as she put the photo back in the drawer the doorbell rang. She quickly dried her eyes and went to answer it, breathing deeply a few times to calm herself down.

Topaz was surprise went she saw it was Koji standing on her doorstep, she blinked a few times before she said, "Yes?"

"Hi Topaz, remember me? Koji, from your class."

"Yes."

"The teacher said that you weren't feeling well, so I thought I'd come by and see how you were doing." Koji said half lying. While it was true that he wanted to see if she was feeling better he also wanted to see if he could find out more about the 'mysterious car' -now known as Freespirit- that she was suppose to own.

"How did you know where I lived?" she asked narrowing her green eyes in suspicion at him.

"Uh… how? I uh…" what was he suppose to say? That TAI found the address through that strange car and that he'd been there twice before hoping to find out more about it but no one was ever in? "I looked it up in the phone book." He said hoping she'd believe him.

Topaz didn't believe him, simply because her address wasn't _in_ the phone book but she decided to let it slide. After all, not many people would come to see her or let alone _care_ whether she was ill or not especially after the way she had treated them.  
"Yeah, well, I'm fine." She said, "If you don't mind I have things to do." Preparing to close the door.

"Wait I wanna ask you something." Koji asked in half desperation.

She looked at him a tad confused, "What?"

Koji breathed deeply before asking, "Is there another member of your family with the same name as you?"

This caught Topaz totally off guard and she stared at him with a strange look of surprise mixed with confusion and shock.  
"Why do you ask that?" she finally said.

"It's just that I can't believe you own a car." He suddenly blurted out.

Topaz tried to keep a straight confused face as she asked, "Why would I own a car?" trying to sound even more confused.

"I don't know, just a silly idea one of my friends had. Anyway see you in class tomorrow."

"Yeah whatever." She replied closing the door.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Side Burn asked.

"Not too well. I ended up blurting out that I couldn't believe she owned a car." Koji said downheartedly.

"Don't worry about it."

"Did you ask if there was anyone else in her family with the same name?" X-Brawn asked.

Koji nodded, "She seemed surprised that I asked that."

"But did she answer it."

Koji thought for a moment, thinking back to the conversation. "Actually no, she didn't. She asked why I wanted to know."

"Which was when you said that you couldn't believe she owned a car, right?" Side Burn said.

"Right." Koji agreed.

"Well let's get back to base. Maybe TAI has found out a little more about Freespirit." X-Brawn said.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks to all who've reviewed. Sorry for the shortness of the chap, hope you all like it. Please review.

**Chapter Five**

It had been three weeks since Koji had gone to see Topaz. He began to wonder if he had said something to upset her. When she came to school the next day she ignored him and continued to ignore him for the rest of the week, that shouldn't have surprised him though as Topaz ignored everybody, but since that last Friday two weeks ago Topaz had failed to come to school.

"I'm sure your friend is okay, Koji." Optimus said seeing the worry on the boy's face.

"I hope your right, Optimus. I keep going over there to see how she is, but no one will open the door." He sighed "Any more news on my father?" he asked changing the subject.

Optimus shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid not."

An alarm went off and everyone looked at the screens.

"Predacons."

"They're putting in a little overtime aren't they." Koji said.

The Predacons had been attacking almost everyday for the past two weeks, buildings, trains, local events. Optimus couldn't understand it, Megatron wanted power, energy. He didn't care about the trivial things that they had been doing. So why do it?  
Almost all of the Autobots were exhausted fighting day in and day out, but they couldn't ignore _any_ Predacon threat, who knows what it would lead to. Maybe that was Megatron's plan, to get them so exhausted that they'd be easy to pick off.

"TAI…" Optimus began.

"Already on it, Optimus." TAI said before he'd even asked her.

"Koji, stay here." He said before transforming into his vehicle form and driving off.

Koji looked over at TAI a worried look on his face, this time it wasn't about Topaz, he was worried about Prime and the other Autobots.

As if reading his mind TAI said, "He's okay Koji."

"Are you sure about that? They've been out there fighting everyday this week."

TAI looked back at the screens a small sigh escaping her lips "I know." She said quietly.

Koji watched the battle, it was no different than any of the others. _Might as well go home. I can't do anything to help here._ He thought, he said goodbye to TAI and was just about to walk out when he heard "Koji look!" He turned back and saw a light blue fighter jet enter the scene. It hovered above the battle area for a moment before diving straight for Optimus Prime.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

As the battle raged on between Predacon and Autobot a light blue fighter jet hovered over the scene. It watched for a moment before saying, "Damn it! This wasn't part of the plan! Damn those Predacons!" and diving down toward the battle area.

* * *

Prowl -who had just sent his opponent flying backwards- looked around the battle area. He had just looked over at Optimus when he saw a light blue jet heading toward the Autobot leader. "Optimus look out!" he shouted.

Hearing Prowl's shout Optimus looked behind him and just managed to move out the way before the jet started firing.

"Since when did the Predacons have air support?" Side Burn asked.

His opponent, Dark Scream simply shrugged and said, "Beats me." Failing to recognise the jet.

The jet dived for another attack and to the Autobots surprise it wasn't attacking them, it was attacking the Predacons. Upon the third wave of attack Slapper shouted, "Wait! I recognise that jet!" hearing this the jet headed down and transformed between the two factions. Dark Scream, Gas Skunk and Slapper all stood in shock, their mouths hanging open. The jet attacking them was the very same one they'd met in the derelict building a couple of weeks ago.

"This was NOT part of the plan!" they said clearly annoyed.

Sky-Byte looked at the three stunned Predacons then over at the 'jet'. "This was your 'contact'." He asked rhetorically looking back at them. "You fools! That's an Autobot!" pointing at the 'jet'. A laser shot grazed passed Sky-Byte's audio receptor, he held it in slight pain and looked over to see the 'jet' with their right arm gun pointing in his direction.

"You should watch what you say, Predacon." They said as they lowered their arm. "Someone might get hurt… namely you."

* * *

Optimus Prime, Prowl, X-Brawn and Side Burn were watching what was going on, almost as surprised as the three Predacons.  
Listening to the 'jet' Optimus couldn't help but wonder where he'd heard that feminine voice before. He studied them carefully looking to see if there was any clue to their identity.

After a few more words between the 'jet' and the Predacons, they left. The 'jet' turned to the Autobots.  
"Don't expect me to help you out next time." They said and began to walk off.

"Who are you?" Side Burn called out.

The 'jet' stopped and looked back at them. "You mean you don't know."

"Should we?" Prowl replied.

The 'jet' chuckled and turned back to them.  
"You really don't know, do you." They said in a slight humorous tone, making Prowl think he'd heard it before. "Okay then I'll tell you, not that it matters. My names Freespirit."

"But that can't be, Freespirit isn't a jet they're a car." Side Burn said half shocked.

If Freespirit had been human she would've rolled her eyes at Side Burn's comment.  
"Thank you Mr. Obvious." She said sarcastically, then added "That is one of my forms."

Optimus had finally realised where he'd heard her voice before, but that was impossible, wasn't it? Seeing the confusion and realisation in his optics Freespirit smirked and gave a small nod. Upon seeing this, his optics widened in complete shock at what was just revealed to him.

"You okay, Optimus?" Prowl asked seeing the sheer shock on his leaders face.

Slowly Optimus gave a nod, and forced his vocal processors to work.  
"I want to talk to Freespirit alone."

"Are you sure that's wise?" X-Brawn asked.

"If the Predacons should come back…" Prowl began.

"They won't." Freespirit said flatly interrupting him, there almost hatred in her voice.

"I'll meet you back at base." Optimus said walking over to Freespirit.

All Autobot Brothers could do was watch as both Optimus and Freespirit transformed and drove off.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I know I'm 'early' in updating this but that partly due to the fact that chap 6 was short (or at least shorter than I thought) and partly because I'm curious as to what you'll all make if this chap. Sadly, this is also a short chap, but I promise to make the next one longer (or at least try to). Please review.

**Chapter Seven**

Optimus and Freespirit drove out to the desert so as not to be heard by anyone, but little did they know that they were far from being alone.  
As soon as they transformed Freespirit turned to Optimus and said, "I knew you'd figure it out soon or later."

"You've tried to keep your identity hidden from us." Optimus stated looking at the light lime green patches that covered her light blue shoulder blades. He knew what she was trying to hide.

Freespirit was slightly shocked at his response, she was expecting something more along the lines of 'why didn't you contact anybody'. Seeing him stare at her 'covered' shoulder blades she ripped the patches off. "There. Happy now?" she said rhetorically.  
On her shoulder blades just as Optimus thought was the Autobot symbol. "Now I remember why I didn't go after you like I did with the other two. You figure things out way too damn quick." She said half moaning as she folded her arms.

"You maybe able to change your look, but you can't change who you are." He paused for a moment before adding, "Sky Spirit."

Freespirit growled at him, she heard some small gasps that followed Optimus' revelation but decided to ignore them, at least for now.  
"That Autobot no longer exists! She died back in that attack along with everyone else!" she said turning to looked out over the desert and putting her arms back down by her side.

"Everyone but Prowl." Optimus said. He saw that at the mention of Prowl's name her hands balled into fists, which shook slightly.

"Everyone but Prowl." She repeated.

Optimus noted that although she tried to sound angry there was underlying sadness, regret and… was that longing in her voice.  
"You still hold feelings for him, don't you." He said.

"Are you kidding me!" she virtually shouted turning back to him. "I told you, that Autobot died, DIED! Along with everything else that made her who she was. Including those…" she shivered slightly "Feelings. I am Freespirit now, and always will be." After a short pause she suddenly she chuckled as an idea came into her head, she looked around before saying. "You know that wasn't a smart thing to do, Optimus. Follow me all the way out here with no one around, if I wanted to I could shoot you right now and no one would be any the wiser." She said rising her left arm gun at him.

"You could." Optimus said calmly "But I know you won't."

"Yeah, you're right." Lowering her arm "There'd be no fun in it." She turned back the open desert. "So what are you going to do now? Tell everyone who I really am and hope I come back to the 'right side' as it were." She was about to turn back to him when she saw something glint in the sunlight. " 'Cuse me." She said transforming into her jet mode and flying over to it.

Optimus watched in slight shock as she started to fire at the sand not to far from them. A few moments later she dropped something at his feet and transformed back into her robot mode. Optimus resisted the urge to look down as he heard.  
"I believe _that_ belongs to you." She said in slight annoyance. She then lifted up her arm and pointed it in his direction "And this." She added as she shot at something behind him "And this." Using her other arm to shoot at something behind her.  
Optimus looked over at what Freespirit had just fired at and was surprised to see Mirage and Hot Shot. He looked behind him and saw REV and Crosswise, finally he looked down at what she dropped in front of him, it was Prowl. He looked at her partially confused, how did she know they were there? How did _they_ even know they were there?

"It seems like they weren't as trusting as you." She said her voice devoid of any emotion. "Smart choice." She replaced the patches over her Autobot symbol and started to walk away.

"Freespirit…" Optimus called to her retreating form.

"Laterz Optimus. The next time we meet might not be on friendly terms." She said to him as she kept on walking.

He watched her walk further out into the desert until she transformed into her jet mode and flew off. He sighed, things had just got a lot more complicated, he looked down at Prowl seeing Crosswise and Mirage helping him up.  
"We're going to have to have a little talk when we get back." He said sternly to all of them.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the first chapter, but I've only seen the first 8 episodes of RID so this story is loosely based around them. Hope you like the chap, please review.

**Chapter Eight**

Topaz sighed as she stared out her apartment window. Things had not gone the way she'd planned, thanks to those damn Predacons. Optimus Prime had found out Freespirit's true identity, she knew it wouldn't have been long before he did but now… she growled in frustration.

"You seem upset." A voice said as light filled the dark room.

Topaz chuckled "It's been a while." She said not turning to see who it was, she didn't need to, she could tell just by the light.

"I do have other things to do." The voice said. Topaz just gave a nod and continued to stare into the night sky. "Are you regretting that I saved you, would you of rather stayed like you were and died?" the voice said having a curious tone to it.

Topaz turned to them, and saw exactly what she expected to see. A ball of light hovering in the middle of the room. She shook her head in response to the question. "No. I am grateful for what you did. I just…" she stopped, unable to put how she felt into words.

"I see you told them who you were."

"Not really, Crystal. It was more like Optimus Prime figured out who I really was." She turned back to the window.

"I did tell you did I not, that things would be harder if you did it this way." Crystal said. "You could have gone back as soon as you were well enough."

Topaz gave a noise that sounded half like a grunt and half like laughter, she turned back to Crystal. "And say what? 'Oh by the way everyone I'm not dead the body Prowl and everyone else saw wasn't me.' Then spent hours trying to make them believe that I'm not a Predacon spy designed to infiltrate them. No thanks, Crystal."

"You still hold feelings for this…Prowl, don't you." Crystal said softly.

Topaz gave a frustrated growl as she walked away from the window.  
"Why does everyone keep saying that! Everything that made Sky Spirit who she was died on that day. When you rescued me I became a new being, a new person as the humans call it."

"But you still possess your… or should I say _her_ memories of back then." Rewording her sentence at Topaz's glare. "I also saved some of your… detail shall we say. Like the symbol on your shoulders."

Topaz looked at her left bare shoulder, it had a large tan coloured plaster on it. Slowly she began to peel it back. She stared at the red symbol, why had she shown it to Prime? There was no need, all it did was confirm his suspicion. Another question came to her mind, why had she made it so… 'visible' in the first place? She had expertly hid it when talking the Predacons so why let the Autobot leader see it at all?

"You see." Crystal said seeing Topaz stare at the Autobot symbol and bringing the girl out of her thoughts. "Even if you don't want admit it, you are that robot who was to of died all those years ago." Topaz glared at Crystal's statement "Even by giving yourself a new name, new look _and_ that power we gave you. You still can't change _you_, the one inside." Topaz rolled her eyes, that was what Optimus had said. "Her body may have died but Sky Spirit still lives, still has the same feelings she had all those years ago. It time to stop running, Freespirit. It's time you went back to the people you know and trust."

A tear ran down Topaz's cheek as she thought about Crystal last words. "Mostly everyone I knew and trusted is dead." She said a few moments later and walked out of the room.

Crystal sighed, Freespirit needed help but who could she turn to? Her people would be no use, most of them didn't care what happened to the 'people' they 'saved' it was just something they did.  
She thought back to what she had seen earlier in the day. Maybe, just maybe, she could trust him but she would have to do a lot of explaining.

* * *

"So Freespirit is actually Sky Spirit." X-Brawn said in a sad tone.

"Wow, talk about a split personality." Side Burn said. Everyone looked at him an annoyed look on their face "What?"

"Do you think she'll ever come back, Optimus?" TAI asked.

"Back to the city, yes. Back to being an Autobot…" he paused "I don't know."

"But she's already one of us." Ironhide pointed out.

"From what we saw, looks like she's ashamed of being an Autobot." REV said.

"Yeah, covered up her symbol and everything." Crosswise added.

"What I wanna know is, if she's been alive all this time, why not contact us?" Hot Shot said.

"I just don't understand how she _could_ be alive. Everyone there was…" X-Brawn began.

"Prowl survived, so maybe she did to." WARS interrupted.

"What do you think about all this, Optimus?" Side Burn asked.

"I think we should all get some rest, if the Predacons keep up their schedule of what they have been doing lately, we're going to need it."

Everyone gave a nod and started towards their rooms, when they had all left Optimus sighed.

"So what _do_ you think of all this?" TAI asked from behind him.

"To be honest TAI, I really don't know." He confided in the computer and started toward his room.

TAI shook her head sadly then disengaged her holographic form.

* * *

Optimus walked into his room, and sat on his 'bed' and sighed… again, he'd been doing a lot of that recently. He knew that Sky Spirit and Freespirit were one in the same but if you asked her it sounded like they were two different mech's entirely.  
He thought back to earlier when they all got back to base as he was talking to Mirage, REV, Crosswise, Hot Shot and Prowl. He could see that Prowl wasn't paying attention, his optics were dimmed slightly and he kept looking down at the floor. He wanted to speak with him afterwards but Prowl just headed towards his room without a word.  
Then WARS' comment popped into his head, _'Prowl survived, so maybe she did too.'_ Optimus shook his head at that, he knew how Prowl managed to survive when no one else had. In fact, besides Prowl himself, he and X-Brawn were the only two who _did_ know what actually happened back then, not even TAI knew the 'truth' of that battle.  
He was about to settle down for recharge when a voice said "Optimus Prime?" he looked up and saw a ball of light floating down from the ceiling. It stopped in front of him and hovered in mid air. Optimus blinked, wondering if his current worrying over the situation had led him to see things. "Optimus Prime?" the 'light ball' asked again.  
"I am Optimus Prime." He replied.

"My name is Crystal. How I managed to get here is not important." She said seeing the slight skeptical look in Optimus' optics "I've come to talk to you about Freespirit, or as you knew her, Sky Spirit."

Optimus looked at the 'light ball' now partly curious, how did they know about Sky Spirit. "Go on." He heard himself say.

"Firstly I'm assuming you want to know how I know about Sky Spirit… or Freespirit as she now calls herself. To answer that we have to travel back many years, back to the attack in which she died." Crystal began. "I came across the scene quite by accident, upon examining everyone I found them to be all beyond help except for one."

"Sky Spirit."

"Yes. I found that her body had almost given out but she was still fighting to stay alive. I told her that I could give her a second chance at life if she wanted it. She was very skeptical at my offer, thinking it to be deception of some kind. After I assured her of my intensions I took her… what do you call it…spark, back to my planet to recover. From the information I gained from my scans of her dying body we were able to give her a new form. One, or should I say two, that she chose, along with a chosen power that we offer to all our rescue victims."  
Optimus couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. Although it explained how Sky Spirit was still alive when everyone thought she'd died, some of what Crystal was saying confused him.  
"Perhaps I should get straight to the point." She said. "Freespirit believes that she is no longer the same… what's the word you use… ah yes Autobot, she was back then… as you found out earlier." Optimus nodded "I have tried to explain to her that she has not changed since then, besides her name and appearance."

"And you would like me to talk to her." He said.

"It will not be easy I know. And you cannot talk to her in your current form."  
Optimus looked down at himself then back at Crystal, what did she mean his current form?  
"As I had said earlier we had given Freespirit a power, that she chose, and that power was to change her form to whatever she wished. She is presently in human form under the name Topaz Maples."

If Optimus had not been sitting down he thought he would have fallen over in surprise at that piece of information. Freespirit, a transformer, was now a human? That was just not possible. This _had_ to be some kind of trick.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope you all enjoy the chap. Please review.

**Chapter Nine**  
Prowl sat in his room, he couldn't believe it. Sky Spirit was alive, she was alive! She wasn't dead, oh if only he'd known sooner.

There was a knock on his door, he looked over at it wondering whether or not to answer it. The door opened just as he decided not to and in walked his brothers.

"You okay, Bro?" Side Burn asked "You've been in here almost since you came back."

Prowl gave a small chuckle as he saw X-Brawn hit their brother upside the head and Side Burn groan in slight pain as he rubbed the sore spot.

"Of course he's not all right. How would you feel if you found out the one you love was alive all these years and wants nothing to do with you."

Prowl sighed downheartedly and looked down at the floor.

"Now who's the stupid one." Side Burn remarked almost cheekily at his oldest brother.

"It's not the fact that's she's been alive all this time." Prowl suddenly said sadly.

"It's the fact that she hates you, right?" Side Burn said casually.

"Side Burn, if you weren't our brother I'd probably throttle you for saying things like that." X-Brawn said half annoyed.

"Hm." Side Burn said folding his arms in a mock sulk.

X-Brawn looked over at Prowl -who was still staring at the floor- he went over and sat beside him. "Prowl," he began "She may have been Sky Spirit once, but she's changed. She's no longer the femme you once knew."

Prowl shook his head, "Your wrong, X-Brawn. She's still the same, only she has a hatred for me."

"Come on Prowl. I'm sure that's not true." Side Burn said walking over and sitting the other side of him.

"Isn't it?" he looked at his young brother his sadness clearly showing in his golden yellow optics. "You didn't see how she reacted when Optimus said my name. She hates me, and it's because of me that she won't be coming back."

"Now Prowl, don't make me hit you like I did Side Burn." X-Brawn warned a slight joking tone to his voice.

"Hey. How come he gets a warning and I don't?" Side Burn asked slightly hurt.

"You already got your warning."

"Huh?" Side Burn blinked in confusion.

"It's just a miracle that Prowl didn't decide to kill you back then."

"Hey, how was I suppose to know they'd once been together." He replied half moaning.

As a small argument started between the two, Prowl thought back to that moment.

_**Flashback  
**_He watched them drive up and transform, then saw her turn to Optimus and say, "I knew you'd figure it out soon or later."

"You've tried to keep your identity hidden from us." He heard Optimus reply.

She obviously wasn't expecting that reply as she looked partly shocked, he then saw her rip something from her shoulders and said to him "There. Happy now?" there was a rhetorical tone to her voice "Now I remember why I didn't go after you like I did with the other two. You figure things out way too damn quick." She said half moaning as she folded her arms.

"You maybe able to change your look, but you can't change who you are." He heard Optimus say then add, "Sky Spirit."

Before he could stop himself Prowl gasped. _Sk-Sky Spirit? No, that's not possible. She's dead_ but even as he thought this he heard confirmation of the 'impossible'.

"That Autobot no longer exists! She died back in that attack along with everyone else!" she turned towards him her arms now down by her sides as she looked out across the desert. Though he knew that she didn't know that he was there it felt like she was staring directly at him.

_It… it is her! She's alive! _But his happiness was short lived as he heard the rest of the conversation.

"Everyone but Prowl." Optimus said. He saw that at the mention of his name her hands balled into fists, which shook slightly.

"Everyone but Prowl." She repeated. He couldn't help but hear the hatred in her voice as she said his name

_She hates me_ he thought sadly, but he reconsidered that thought when he heard Optimus say, "You still hold feelings for him, don't you." _She does? Could it still be possible?_ He felt his hope soar then die at what he heard next.

"Are you kidding me!" she virtually shouted at Optimus turning back to him. "I told you, that Autobot died, DIED! Along with everything else that made her who she was. Including those…" he saw her shiver slightly "Feelings. I am Freespirit now and always will be."

_She really hate me_ he sighed sadly not realising the sudden movement had made the sun reflect off him revealing his position. It was not until he saw Freespirit fly in his direction and start shooting in his vicinity that he realised he'd been detected.

The last thing he recalled was one of the shots hitting him before blacking out and regaining consciousness at Optimus' feet with Crosswise and Mirage helping him up, then he heard Optimus say "We're going to have to have a little talk when we get back."  
_**End Flashback**_

He shuddered slightly as he held where she shot him. How could it be that she was the same and yet so different? He knew the femme he once loved was still inside of her, he'd heard them back when she told them her name, but then they seemed to vanish when she replied to his concern about the Predacons returning. Her tone was flat but angry as if she was talking to some mortal enemy.

* * *

Two days later.

"I'll get it." Koji called out as the doorbell rang. He opened the door and saw a boy of about his age maybe a little older, with copper red hair. He wore a red jacket, that was done up, blue jeans and white trainers. His eyes were the same green colour Topaz's were. _Might be her brother_ he idly thought. "Can I help you?"

"Koji…"

"Hey, how'd you know my name?" Koji asked. He could swear he'd heard the voice somewhere before.

"Why would I not? We have known each other since your father's kidnap by the Predacons." The boy said.

Koji's eyes went wide as he realised who was in front of him. "Opti…" he put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from continuing.

"Who's at the door, Koji?" his mother called out.

"Just a friend, Mum. I'll be back later." He replied and walked out the door. He stood in front of the boy trying to get over from the shock. "Optimus, how… what's… your human."

"No time to explain, Koji." The human Optimus Prime said "I need you to take me to Topaz."

Koji blinked still trying to get over the fact that Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, was now human. "T-Topaz? Oh yeah, right. This way." As he walked out onto the street.

As they continued down the street Koji couldn't help but look over at Optimus every so often. How on earth did this happen? Was there some weird experiment that went wrong over at Cybertron base? Were all the Autobots now human? He certainly hope not, if that was the case how would they protect Earth from the Predacons, how could they find his father?

Optimus looked at his human friend. It seemed strange seeing him from this 'view'. He'd always looked so… small to him, but seeing him now he was just as 'big' as any other Autobot, if not slightly shorter. He then saw the worried looked on Koji's face.  
"Do not worry, Koji." He said, "This is only temporary, I will soon return to my true form."

Koji sighed visibly with relief. "That's good." He said "For a horrible moment there, I thought something had gone wrong at your base and everyone was human."

That thought unnerved Optimus, all the Autobots human? He involuntary shivered making Koji look at him.

"Are you okay, Optimus?" he asked quietly with concern.

"Fine Koji. Though I am not used to this body." He replied.

Koji couldn't help but laugh at Optimus' answer. Soon they reached Topaz's apartment building and walked up to her place.

"I can't promise that she'll open the door. I got no answer the last time I was here."

Optimus gave a nod as they reached Topaz's front door. Koji knocked and to his surprise the door opened.

"Oh, it's you." She said. She sounded disappointed, as if she was expecting someone else. "What do you want this time?"  
Although she could hear Koji talking she wasn't really listening, her attention drawn to the boy beside him. She felt as if she knew him in someway, but that was impossible she'd never seen him before.

Koji stopped what he was saying when he saw that she was staring at Optimus. Had the Autobot leader really _been_ human Koji would have hit him upside the head for what he was about to say.

"My name is Op…"

"He's… my cousin," Koji said interrupting Optimus and trying to cover up the fact that he was about to say 'Optimus Prime'. "P-Paul… O-Optimal..." he concluded, saying the first names that came to his head.  
Both Optimus and Topaz looked at Koji, Optimus in confusion and Topaz strangely. He began to feel his face heat up with embarrassment, to his relief he heard Optimus ask Topaz "May we come in?"

Topaz looked at him in slight shock, she had heard that voice before. _That voice_ she thought _can only belong to one person, one 'being'. Optimus Prime. _She chuckled inwardly _Nice try Koji, but you'll have to do better than that._  
She let them in, only briefly wondering after she closed the door how Prime had become human. As she entered the living room it hit her, she felt like hitting her head against the wall, it was so obvious. _Crystal, of course! Idiot._ She berated herself.  
"So what brings you here… Optimus."

Koji looked at her in both shock and horror that she knew the boy with him was Optimus Prime. He tried to cover it up, "N-no, not Optimus, Topaz. His name is…" but he didn't get to finish.

"Let's not play games shall we." She said seriously "We both know that he's Optimus Prime, leader of the…" she stopped and tried to compose herself as she saw the horror intensify on Koji's face, she wanted to laugh at him for having found out his little 'secret' and so her next word didn't come out as… spiteful, as she wanted. "Autobots."

Koji could have died when he saw Optimus confirm what Topaz had said with a nod, but he was not prepared for what he heard next.

"And you are Freespirit, known once as the Autobot Sky Spirit."

"Very good, Optimus. Though I gather you did not reach that conclusion on your own, a certain… entity, named Crystal told you." She said.

"I need to sit down." Koji said. This was all too much for him, Optimus Prime suddenly turning human he could handle, but finding out that Topaz was also a transformer _and_ turned out to be the one who had supposedly died years ago. It was just too much for his poor brain to handle.

"She has asked you to 'talk' to me. To make me see that I'm still the same Autobot I was all those years ago." She folded her arms in defiance "Hm. Good luck with that." She said sarcastically.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hope you all had a great Christmas, and Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you all like the chap, please review.

**Chapter Ten**

"Did you have any luck?" Crystal asked after she changed Optimus Prime back to his true form.

"I'm afraid not." He replied.

Crystal sighed, "Then I'm not sure what else we should do." After a few moments she said, "Perhaps I should give it one more try." And gradually disappeared.

Optimus walked towards his door and out into the corridor, he had an idea, and it included two Autobots in particular.

* * *

"So, your not human." Koji said as they walked across the school grounds.

It was lunchtime and Topaz -with some encouragement from Koji- had decided to return to school.

"No."

"So how can you… you know… become… look…" he began wondering how to ask his question.

"When I was rescued by a… being called Crystal, she took me back to her planet. I was extremely low on energy, it was a struggle just to stay conscious." She stopped walking as she remembered what happened next, tears started to well in her green eyes.

Koji saw how sad she looked, he placed a hand on her shoulder.  
"You okay?" he asked gently with concern.

She didn't reply instead continuing with what she was saying. "I asked if the others were alright, if anyone else had survived." She looked up at the clear blue sky "I could tell by the look on their faces that they hadn't." her voice started to quiver "They said that nothing could have been done to save the others." She closed her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Topaz, I…" he started but didn't know how to continue. After all, how do you comfort a sad robot in human form?

Topaz lowered her head, eyes still closed. "It took years for me to recover. Not from the attack, but from the… what do you humans call it… depression." She opened her eyes and looked over at him. The tiniest of smiles appearing on her face, "You're the only one I've ever told about this. No one except Crystal knows what I went through to get… better. Get where I am now."

Koji felt honoured that she would share such information with him, he was about to say something when the bell rang marking the end of lunch. "Guess we better go back." Topaz gave a nod as she wiped her tear trails away.

1

1

When school was over Topaz went over to Koji and quietly said, "Wanna a lift home?"

He looked at her slightly confused, then remembered who and what she was. "Sure… okay."

"I'll wait for you outside." She said and walked out.

Just as Koji was about to leave himself his communicator rang, he opened it and saw Optimus Prime.

"Koji."

"Hey Optimus, is something wrong?"

"Is Freespirit with you?" he asked.

"She's outside, waiting to take me home. Why?"

"There's someone who'd like to talk with her."

* * *

Freespirit sat outside and waited but not very patiently. She sighed halfly in frustration. _Where is that kid? Honestly, if he's worried that I'm going to kidnap him I would have done it way before now._ She thought, soon after she saw him walking up to her.

"Sorry I'm late." He said.

"What took you so long?" she asked slightly annoyed as she opened the passenger side door.

"I forgot something halfway out and had to go back and get it." He replied as he got in.

"Whatever." She said and drove off.

A few minutes into the journey Koji said, "Mind if we stop off somewhere? I uh… need to do a favour for a friend."

"Can't you do that later, we're almost at your place and besides, I have other things to do." She knew that with Prime's failed attempt at making her see she was the same Autobot, despite her changed appearance and name, Crystal would make another visit in one last try to make her see… 'sense' as humans would say. It wasn't something she was looking forward to but she'd rather get it over and done with instead of delaying the inevitable.

"It won't take long." Koji half pleaded.

"You know," she began "I _could_ just drop you her and let you do whatever it is on your own." Her voice developing a devilishly playful tone as she spoke.

"Ah come on. I said it won't take long. If it was that important then you wouldn't have offered a ride." Koji reasoned trying to convince her.

He had a point there, Crystal wouldn't arrive until she'd get back and there was nothing else that needed her attention. She was about to 'argue' some more but instead found herself sigh in defeat.

"Fine." She said, "Where do you need to go?"

_Yes! Optimus you so owe me one_ "Oh, not far from here."

1

1

"You call this not far." Freespirit said rhetorically as they reached a rocky hillside. "What are you gonna do out here, collect rock samples."

Koji couldn't help but chuckle as he got out, she was starting to remind him of Side Burn. As if sensing what he was thinking she said, "And no, I'm nothing like Side Burn."

He held his hands up in defence, "I never said you were."

"No, but you were thinking it." she said partly annoyed. "Just hurry up and do what you need to do so I can go home." After a few moments she found that he hadn't move and was staring at her. "Now would be a good time, and quit staring at me."

"I… er… need you to transform." He said rather nervously.

"What for?" she asked curiously.

"I… uh… need you to help me with this favour I'm doing… for my friend."

"Whatever, just so long as you hurry up." She told him. "Freespirit transform!" changing into her robot mode "Happy now?" as she folded her arms in front of her cockpit.

"Huh?! I thought you were a car." Koji suddenly said surprised to see that Freespirit had wings and other aircraft related 'items'.

"I am." She stated rather boredly.

"But how…"

She cut him off with a stare. "What is it you have to do for your friend?"

"I think I just did it."

"Huh? You wanna run that by me again." She asked confused as she put her arms down by her sides.

"Same old Spirit." A voice said.

"I believe he's talking about us." Another voice added.

Freespirit and Koji looked over at the direction of the voices, Freespirit's optics went wide in surprise.  
"Rapid Run? Crosswise?"

"Nice to see you still remember us." The bullet train said.

She looked at Koji then over at the two Autobots and back at Koji, that's when it all clicked. She chuckled, "Let me guess, your _friend_ was Optimus Prime, right?" she said knowingly.

"Hey, you didn't ask who it was, all I said was a friend needed a favour." He began as he started smiling "And Optimus _is_ a friend."

She heard the two Autobots chuckle, "He's got you there." Crosswise said.

Freespirit couldn't help but give a small laugh herself.  
"So he has." She smiled sweetly at him "Well done, Koji. Well done." Then turned and walked over to the bullet train and spychanger.

"So how've you been Spirit, it's been a long time." Rapid Run said.

"As well as can be expected, Rapid. As well as can be expected."

Koji watched the three as they laughed and joked. It was good to see Freespirit happy instead of the angry Autobot hating robot she had become. In fact she had almost been like a Predacon in her hatred of them. Koji shuddered at that, an Autobot becoming one of the Predacons, now that was a horrible thought.  
He realised that he'd better call Optimus and tell him how things were going. He opened up his communicator and said "Optimus?" Prime's picture appeared on the screen.

"Yes Koji?"

"It's done."

"Thank you Koji. I'll send X-Brawn to take you home." Optimus said.

"Don't worry about it." He looked over at the now laughing Freespirit "She seems so different now." He said in a quiet voice.

"Yes, she does. X-Brawn will be there in a few minutes."

Koji was just about to reply when he heard a voice shout "Koji look out!" the next thing he knew he was lying on the ground with Freespirit over him. "You okay, kid?"

Koji groaned a bit and tried to regain his senses. "I think so. What happened?"

"One word. Predacons." He heard Crosswise say from behind the fighter jet.

"Come on, we've got get you to safety." Getting up off him.

"I don't think so. No one's going anywhere." A voice said.

They all looked round and saw…  
"Sky-Byte, should of known this was your fishy doing." Rapid Run said.

"Don't forget about us." Another voice said.

"Dark Scream, Slapper, Gas Skunk." Freespirit said, "What do you three idiots want."

Koji, Rapid Run and Crosswise couldn't help but chuckle at her comment, even Sky-Byte couldn't resist a small laugh.

"Hey! Who's side you on, Sky-Byte." Dark Scream said annoyed.

"How about we cut the chit-chat and get that double crossing jet." Gas Skunk said.

"For once you have the right idea." Sky-Byte said "Get them!" the four Predacons moved in.

"We have to protect Koji."

"Gotcha. Crosswise, you get Koji outta here. Rapid Run and I will take of these pests." Freespirit said.

"You two sure you'll be okay?" Crosswise asked not wanting to leave them.

"Trust us dude. We'll be just fine." Rapid Run said.

"Okay. You ready, Koji."

"Ready as I'll ever be." He replied.

"On the count of three." Crosswise said. "One…"

"Two."

"Three!"

* * *

Optimus was worried about the sudden communication loss with Koji. "TAI, contact Crosswise and Rapid Run." He had a feeling that something wasn't right.

"Right away, Optimus."

Crosswise's face soon appeared on screen but was suddenly cut off without a word. This only made Optimus even more worried.

"TAI have Prowl and Side Burn meet me at Crosswise's co-ordinates." He then transformed and drove off.

TAI turned to her screen, "Prowl, Side Burn, Optimus wants you to meet him at these co-ordinates."

"We're on our way." She heard Prowl respond.

She wondered what was going on, why hadn't Rapid Run responded and what had happen to Crosswise? She hoped Freespirit wasn't using them for target practice.

* * *

"Why is it whenever I get to know a girl we get called away?" Side Burn said half moaning.

"Quit your moaning, Side Burn." Prowl said annoyed. All he'd heard since they received the transmission from TAI was his brother's moaning, and he was getting tired of it.

"Your one to talk." Side Burn replied. "Who was it that complained for almost three hours about how a certain femme hated them."

Prowl didn't say anything instead veering into his young brother and hitting him sideways on.

* * *

"Stay away from him Predacon scum!" Freespirit shouted as she flew in low and fired her lasers at Slapper.

"Let's see how you like flying blind you good for nothing jet. Acid breath." Gas Skunk blew a yellow cloud in Freespirit's direction.

She started to cough, "I can't see, I can't see!" she heard Sky-Byte say "Shark missiles." But wasn't able to avoid them and they collided with her engines sending her down.

"You okay, Spirit?" Rapid Run asked as he shot the shark in the tail fin making it howl in pain.

"Fine, though my engines are toast."

"Well well, if it isn't miss I-know-how-to-destroy-the-Autobots." A voice said.

* * *

Optimus and the Autobot brothers had just come in sight of where the battle was taking place. They could see Rapid Run fighting off Sky-Byte and Dark Scream, there was no sign of Crosswise and over by Freespirit had just appeared…  
"Megatron." Optimus said.

"I'd say we arrived just in time." X-Brawn said.

"Yeah but in time for what, to help them out or to see Megatron finish off Freespirit." Side Burn commented.

No one said anything as they continued toward the battle scene. Once they arrived they saw Crosswise trying his best to hold back Slapper and Gas Skunk (now in their robot modes) and protect Koji at the same time, as well as trying to ignore his injury.  
After transforming Optimus told Side Burn and X-Brawn to go help Crosswise and Rapid Run. He knew that even if he told Prowl to go and help them that the white mech would stay and help Freespirit as if to make up for the past.  
They went over to where Freespirit was facing off against Megatron and saw that her cockpit was cracked and her wing tips were smouldering, there was also a slight trickle of energon leaking down from her right 'elbow'.

"Megatron." Optimus said, earning a look from both the Predacon leader and femme.

"Not another step, Prime." He said "Or you can say goodbye to this femme."

Freespirit looked at Megatron in slight amazement, then realised that with attention focused on Optimus she could use the element of surprise and tackle him. At least, that was the plan, but it didn't quite turn out that way. As she went to tackle the Predacon leader she had failed to notice the stray laser shot coming her way, it hit her in the side causing her to fall to the ground just short of her 'target'. This gave Megatron a greater advantage as he hauled her up by her injured arm.

"Let her go, Megatron."

"Sky-Byte, Dark Scream, Gas Skunk, Slapper." He called out, the four Predacons were by his side almost instantly.

Prowl saw Freespirit's face contort with pain -as much as she tried to hide it- as Megatron increased his grip on her arm.

"Don't worry about me, Optimus." Freespirit said, "Just get them."

"Quiet femme." Sky-Byte said kicking her. She turned and glared at him.

"What do we do now?" Rapid Run asked.

"We can't attack them while they have Freespirit, can we?" Side Burn said.

"No." Optimus said flatly "And Megatron knows it too." Staring at the Predacon, who now had a half smug grin on his face. In fact all of them looked…pleased at the Autobots predicament.

"You heard Optimus. Let her go." They suddenly heard Prowl say.

"Why should I?" Megatron said.

To the Autobots surprise Prowl aimed his gun at Megatron.

"Prowl, are you nuts. If you miss you'll end up hitting Spirit." Crosswise said, but Prowl wasn't listening.

Megatron laughed at the white mech, what was the stupid Autobot trying to prove.  
Optimus as about to tell Prowl to stand down when two shots were heard, one from Prowl and one from Megatron. While Prowl's shot had just missed, Megatron's didn't.

Freespirit watched what was going on and was slightly horrified when Prowl collapsed to the floor, she saw Side Burn and X-Brawn rush over to their fallen brother. _I have to end this before anyone else gets hurt._ She thought. As her optics moved across each Autobot her anger rose as she heard the Predacons insult and taunt them, her hands clenched into fists. Finally her gaze landed on the now wounded Prowl, she was now seething with anger. She looked to see how 'occupied' Megatron was and when the time was right shot the Predacon in the foot, gaining her instant freedom. She then released her anger on the unsuspecting Predacons. Finally managing to drive them off with the others help.

"This isn't over _Autobot_!" Megatron spat at her as he transformed and flew off.

Freespirit was about to fire at him when she realised he was right, she _was_ an Autobot, she'd always been an Autobot and would always be. The only difference between what Crystal and Prime were trying to tell her and her realisation was that she wasn't the _same_ Autobot Sky Spirit but Autobot Freespirit. Who was a totally different femme, sure she still may have Sky Spirit's memories but _Freespirit_ had her own life, her own ways, her own 'past'. She chuckled to herself who'd of thought it would have been Megatron of all mech's to make her realise this.  
"Freespirit." she heard a voice say and turned back to the others. Her expression sadden slightly as she saw the brothers were no longer there. "Guess they'll know better than to mess with me." She joked trying to lighten the mood and received a few light chuckles in return.

"Does this mean you're coming back to us?" Crosswise asked.

"Hmmm… I'll let you know." She replied in an almost playful way then transformed and drove off.

"I think that's a yes." Rapid Run said.

Optimus gave a nod.


	11. Epilogue

A/N: sadly this is the last chapter in this story. I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks for all your reviews.  
(Just a little side note to say that I'm currently writing a sequel to this, so watch out for it in the near future.)

**Epilogue**

Three weeks had past since the battle on the rocky hillside and Prowl had fully recovered from his injuries, but no one had seen a trace of Freespirit or her human counterpart Topaz Maples. Koji had found out that Topaz's apartment had been sold and there had been no sign of her at school, it appeared as if she'd left Metro City completely. Two more weeks went by without a sighting or a word of Honda/Jet's whereabouts. On the sixth week however, Koji was on his way back home when a light blue car pulled up beside him.

"You look like you've given up all hope." A voice said.

Koji looked over at the car half expecting to see the driver, but he couldn't see past the car's tinted windows. He began to look closer at the car and gradually realisation struck. The light blue colour, the light lime green and white stripes, the voice… could it be? To be sure he went to check the licence plate, sure enough the word 'Freespirit' was written on it.  
"Your-your…" he began.

The Honda chuckled at his reaction "Back?" she said finishing his sentence.

"Yeah."

"You wanna lift?" she asked opening the passenger side door.

Koji smiled, "Sure." He got in and she drove off.

"So where ya headed? I hope your not doing a friend a favour." She joked.

Koji laughed, "No. No favours today."

"Good, then you won't mind doing me one."

Koji blinked in surprise then asked, "What's up?"

"I'd like you to take me to the others."

"Huh?" he said in both confusion and shock.

"The others, Koji. You know, Optimus Prime, Autobots. Ring any bells."

"W-why would you…"

"What? Can't a fellow Autobot go and see her commander?" she interrupted slightly playful.

A huge smile broke out onto Koji's face. "I'll have to contact Optimus first." He said not bothering to hide the excitement in his voice.

Freespirit laughed, "Okay. Just calm down before you strain something."

* * *

An hour or so after Koji's communication that Freespirit was back the Honda drove into Cybertron base. She was almost surprised to see Rapid Run standing next to Optimus.

"Welcome back, Freespirit." Optimus said as she transformed.

"Thank you, Optimus." She said, "I gotta admit, it does feel good to be back."

"Of course it does. This is where your friends are." Rapid Run said placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and gave a nod in reply.

"Sk-Freespirit…" a voice said almost nervously.

She turned to it, her light yellow optics narrowing as she saw the white mech. "Yes." Her voice having a slight sharp annoyed tone.

"We'll leave you two alone." Optimus said seeing the two stare at each other.

"Catch you later, Spirit." Rapid Run said.

Freespirit watched as the Autobot leader and bullet train left then turned back to the white mech.  
"Well… don't you have something to say to me."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry!" she almost yelled, "Sorry doesn't cut it, Prowl."

"Sky Spirit I…" but he didn't get to finish.

"Don't call me that!" she shouted "Sky Spirit is dead. Do you hear me Prowl, D-E-A-D dead and so are my feelings for you." She couldn't help but notice the shock on his face, she knew she had hurt him but never the less she continued "My name is Freespirit now, I suggest you remember it."

1

1

Hiding behind the door to the command centre, Crosswise, Rapid Run, X-Brawn and Side Burn listened to the conversation.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Side Burn said quietly as they heard Freespirit say she no longer had feelings for Prowl "No doubt we'll have to pick up the pieces later."

If X-Brawn could have hit his youngest brother without being heard or discovered he would have. "Quit being so insensitive, Side Burn."

"The dude's got a point though. Prowl's gonna be pretty low over the next couple of days." Rapid Run said.

"He should just be thankful she didn't shoot him." Crosswise said casually.

X-Brawn and Side Burn looked at him almost in shock.  
"She wouldn't do that, would she?" Side Burn asked.

"That girl does have a pretty mean temper." The bullet train recalled.

They looked back just in time to see her transform and drive off.

"She maybe back on our side." Crosswise began "But I've a feeling our problems are just beginning."

Everyone gave a nod in agreement.

THE END (or is it?)


End file.
